Jody floated in again a few days ago for her second appointment with me at my office.

She has seen me last week for her first session.

Casual in tees and jeans, she could be mistaken for a 30-year-old when she is actually now in her forties.

She was pleased when I commented that she looks at least ten years younger if not more.

However, her youthful exuberance could not hide the agony and pain of prolonged unemployment which lasted more than ten months ago when she was forced out of her IT company due to office politics and bullying.

Tears flowed freely for Jody – even in her first appointment with me a week ago and she walked away after both sessions with her eyes pretty puffed up.

She is expressive and not afriad to own up to her feelings – however rotten they are.

She was making around $7000 from her IT job then – a salary that belied her basic GCE O levels and IT certificate.

She also has a LCCI in accounts which was her initial career initiative for almost a decade.

Jody made the switch from accounts to IT thinking that it will be a better change both in monetary and long term career ambition.

She lamented that she couldn’t have the opportunity to stay on further in the job as she likes the adrenalin of the IT industry and tight dead lines are common.

“I wish I could stay on longer in the IT industry,” she said in between stripes of tissue paper when tears welled up again and she tried to stop them from running off her face.

The hurt and agony were evidential as she related the loss of a well-paying job.

“Now the IT industry is being dominated by foreigners,” she complained.

“The government asks us to retrain and I did just that but I was not given a chance at all after countless job applications in the IT sector.”

She has applied for more than a few hundred IT positions but there was a defying silence from the recruitors.

She got the hint and has now completely stop sending out any more job applications as she has reached zero tolerance level and more alarmingly sunk into a serious bout of depression.

She hardly ventured out of her home anymore - even from her own room and often slept till very late to escape the long gaping empty hours of another meaningless day.

“I am rotting inside and outside now,” she said staring blankly.

“I can’t see the light in a very dark long tunnel.”

I could empathsize with her as I too felt that way ten years ago in 2001 when I was jobless for 18 months.

Every day was like a torture as you woke up feeling lousy and depressed and you wish you don’t have to wake up anymore as there is nothing for you to live for anyway.

Jody’s condition was much better two years ago when she took up a 3-month crashed course in IT certification - paying more than $10, 000 for the cost fees entirely out of her own pocket hoping for a decent career switch to the IT industry.

Now, it appeared that the money has gone down the slippery drain of no return.

Expectations have to be lowered and maybe she even have to take on something part-time so that at least she could pay off her daily expenses and bills.

Unfortunately, for Jody, her situation was made acute by the death of her dad who contracted lung cancer in May this year and has passed away since.

She sobbed whenever she spoke of her dad – probably the only loved one she has on earth as her parents were divorced when she was very young.

Now, she stays alone by herself and needs to dig alot deeeper inside to live on purposefully and independently as there is no one to push her anymore.

Very often, we plough on in life because of someone we love so that they can be taken care of.

When that person is gone, we lost the motive and will to live on purposefully – especially when the journey is rough.

As her dad only passed away less than six months ago, she is still grieving for his loss and her prolonged unemployment only made things worse.

Its a double whammy…

Studies have shown that the death of a loved one and unemployment shared the top joint spots for the worst stressors a person can experience and Jody now face two of them within a very short period.

I have also asked Jody to plan out her day in detail so that she knows what to do with her free empty hours everyday.

She also needs to let go of the forced resignation issue as it has cripped her ability to move on smoothly to another career.

I have seen many people stucked in a rut as they are engulfed in the adverse agonising consequences of office bullying and politics.

The hurt and pain are very real for the victim and many took a while before they could move on.

Unless we forgive and try to forget, the hurts will torment us for a long time.

I asked Jody to try and draft out a daily schedule for me soon.

I remembered pasting my daily schedule on the study room when I was jobless for 18 months as I too struggled with aimless living for close to 6 months before realising that I could not bump around anymore fruitlessly.

The morning period was devoted to looking for suitable jobs followed by a 1/2-hour lunch at home and I took the afternoon reading up books and motivational websites.

I jogged at around 6pm daily and finished up with dinner by 8pm. I watched some TV with the family later on before turning in to bed by 10.30pm.

The schedule forced me to a routine so that I could find some purpose and aim in my daily living.

The greatest loss when one is unemployed is not the income though it is important but the self esteem and purpose employment brings to the person.

It is no fun waking up every day and stare at the four blank walls of one’s room as Jody has alleged.

You feel the world passes you by as you are stucked in a time warp of which there is no turning back.

I have also asked Jody to volunteer at my office helping out in small administrative tasks.

At least, it will force her to get out of the house and hopefully she will slowly integrate back into the community.

Isolation and a loss of purpose are the unemployed’s greatest enemies and self awareness is important here or else one can get stuck in a rut of senseless living.

Let us hope that Jody’s case is just one lone extreme example of a person caught out by prolonged unemployment but my fear is that there are many more Jodys out there.

Reader Feedback

44 Responses to “Lady jobless PMET who earned $7000/month now severely depressed and lost will to live on”

Jody can consider to seek help from Caliberlink. It is a new government agency like WDA, e2i, NTUC & etc to help unemployed Singaporean to look for jobs.

The different between Caliberlink & other government agencies is that they focus more on white collar jobs for PME.

However with a LCCI in accounts, GCE O levels and IT certificate in SAP, I as a ex-HR practitioner can tell you that it is very hard to secure back her old salary.

I think a salary range of S$1800-S$2300 should be the market market trend for her qualification & hope she will consider to lower her expected salary & find jobs like admin & account related position instead of IT position because she only have 1 SAP cert while her competitors have a IT diploma/degree with tons of IT professional certificate.

Better don’t have high hope on caliberlink. I believe i am one of the earliest jobseekers to get a job thru caliberlink.

Challenger partner up with caliberlink to recruit mgmt associates (mgmt trainees). The job only pays basic $1200 + allowance $600 for diploma holder; basic $1400 + allowance $600 for deg holder. No cpf contribution on the allowances. This is illegal but challenger doesn’t cares, caliberlink also can’t be bother too.

Out of 5, only 4 signed the bond but we all left within a month. We were asked to compensate challenger but we refused coz we felt that the whole employment scheme is a trap & it’s illegal. You won’t be declare bankruptcy thru lawsuit or by court if you owned the other party less than $10k. One of us make a complaint to caliberlink that the whole thing is a exploitation trap but they don’t care about working condition or cpf contribution or other matters. They funtioned exactly like e2i, organised job fairs & ask you sign up for courses, brainwash you to continue go for training & upgrading, that’s it.

After the joint recuitment exercise with caliberlink failed, challenger partner up with SIRS to recruit retail staff.

To me, it’s a waste of money & resources to set up govt employment centre like caliberlink.

Look foward and move on. I felt depressive and low in confidence when I dropped a higher paying job than the writer to join my family in Australia. When I did car washing and dish washing for $11/hr I was so sad as I couldn’t let go off the past till I saw blind or disabled people living life to the fullest and not letting their disability hinder them living a good life made me realized that my life is close to perfect less career wise thus to be appreciative of what we have and treasure it.

Despite only having O level, SAP cert & a LCCI, Jody managed to get a $7000 monthly salary IT job. She is consider very lucky.

But how long has she worked in that IT job? Didn’t it occur to her that she needs to pursue those IT dip/deg in order to stay longer in the IT industry?

With so many IT diploma & degree holders in the job market; S’pore govt also allow huge numbers of foreign IT workers into the country compete with local IT workers. It’s unlikely that Jody will ever manage to get another $7000 job again. She has to go look out for something else.

I wouldn’t pay $15k for a SAP cert unless i am very rich. It’s too expensive.

Lithan Hall & SIM have these SAP cetification & Master in ERP courses. All are not cheap. After obtaining it, also no guarantee of job offers too. But of course, the operation mgr or programme consultant will tell you many companies are using SAP, not to worry about getting a job.

Agree. If young skill labour (Dip & Degree) PME like my friend, my wife & me whose age are lesser then 30 year old have problem of getting employed, I do not see those aged 40s, 50s, 60s & etc will be better then us.

I just received this email from Lithan Hall. Once again, these WDA, IDA & private educator want us to fall for their education marketing trap again. As if after completion, we can easily find good pay IT jobs.

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Due to the legs-open wide PAP policy to mass import younger and cheaper foreign workers, ageism is the hardest barrier to cross. Even if you are better qualified, have more experience etc, employers prefer someone younger, look better, maybe talk better, definitely cheaper and they think more energetic.

Furthermore, my guess is Jody does not have the in-demand hardcore IT skills like MSCE, Cisco network certified, Oracle certified, enterprise Java, C++, network/web applications development etc. To maintain a high-paying job in S’pore’s IT industry, you need these type of skills and you need to be continuously updated on the latest technologies and techniques, and which you can translate into business profitability and efficiency.

If your job role is the more generic type such as IT support, helpdesk, accounts mgmt, pre-sales, post-sales, etc then you’re living on borrowed time. Companies will be thinking to kick you out when you’re in your mid-30s, let alone when you’re 40+.

In contrast, let’s examining how cheaply can cheap foreigners be hired.

Your boss can resort to easily hire unlimited number of cheap foreigner on employment pass as there is no quota for employment pass holders.

As the minimum amount to pay a foreigner on employment pass is $3000, the boss definitely pays only the minimum amount, i.e. $3000 to the foreigner.

To the boss, the cheap foreigner monthly cost = $3000

As cheap foreigner is meant to be hired cheaply,
your boss choose not to pay any bonus to the cheap foreigner.

To the boss, the cheap foreign yearly cost
= 12 X $3000 = $36000

The cheap foreigner is cheaper than you by
$101400 – $36000 = $65400

In percentage term, the cheap foreigner is cheaper than you by
($65400 / $101400) X 100% = 64.5%

Based on the cost of hiring you and the cheap foreigner, who do you think your boss will hire?

Naturally, your boss chose to hire the cheap foreigner to replace you because the cheap foreigner is at least 64.5% cheaper than you.

As the floodgate to cheap foreigners has been opened for many years, and is bound to be opened even wider in the many years to come, as evidenced from the recent published population report showing the large increase in the number of foreigners, there is dire future for you and we, the Singaporeans.

It is just a matter of time of who is the first Singaporean, second Singaporean, third Singaporean, etc., to be replaced by cheap foreigners.

There are already many Singaporeans who faced the same fate as you of being replaced by cheap foreigners. In the many years to come, there will be even more Singaporeans to be replaced by cheap foreigners.

So do not be sad, as we are in the same boat and share the same fate as you.

I see so many complains on this website. I empatize with people with job loss and the nasty experience, but HEY, in Cantonese, we have this never say die attitude! “You have hands & Legs, you will not die of hunger!”
Why so negative, just get up, dut off and move on! There is so much opportunities now with the global market, just find your own niche nd excel in it. Find like-minded friends, business people and don’t stay at home and sulk lah! Be tahnkful you have hands & legs and brains enough to find your own work and meaning.
Please google “Nick Vujicic” & watch his inspirational videos. This guy was was born without hands and legs and he has achieved far more than most of us sulking complainers, eveyday just complain, complain instead of MAKING AN EFFORT ON YOUR OWN LIFE! If no employer appreciates you, then BE the EMPLOYER and find your own business sucess! Everyone is born with some strengths, so make do with it! You still have hands, legs & your brains.
Hope that encourages everyone!

I can understand why she still wants to return to IT instead of accounting. I also have LCCI in Accounting and was an accounts assistant for 2 years on temp/ contract basis in a few companies. I started as a temp since I got no accounting experience, hoping to work my way up.

For my first accounting job, I worked as a temp for only $55/day. The workload was very heavy and the environment was very fast paced. I was asked to issue many cheques and had a typo error for 2 cheques out of 100 cheques.

The accounts executive was very unhappy and I could sense that she disliked me a lot. She told me that they couldn’t afford the time to teach me things slowly. Soon, I was asked to leave because their peak period was over.

But, I saw the newsapaper ad recruiting for another temp to replace me. I was very upset but couldn’t do anything about it given my lack of experience.

Then, I worked in another company where an accountant was willing to teach me Excel. But the company closed down after a few months as business was bad.

I joined another company later and I could sense that they didn’t like me because of my lack of experience. I learnt things very fast and soon felt unhappy due to work stress, long hours and office politics.

My stress was due mainly to the heavy workload and long hours, but they thought I had difficulties in doing “difficult” tasks. Actually, I felt the tasks too mundane as I could do them even without the LCCI cert. Those were just paper work to me. I didn’t feel challenged and got no job satisfaction.

It was a dead end job with low pay if you didn’t have a degree in Accountancy. People suggested that I studied ACCA to be an accountant. But the problem is that I disliked the work stress, long hours, paper work that comes with it.

There are certainly many accounting jobs, but the pay is very low like $1.2k-$1.5k and the hours are long forever. Someone told me that the pay is low because it is an expenditure in the P/L, while the sales people get higher pay because sales is an income in the P/L.

I felt that it was very unfair as we could be working the same number of hours and putting in the same amount of efforts.

I left the job mainly due to office politics. Accounting depends a lot on team work and it is very difficult to have good team mates to work with. Those who were nicer to me left the company and I was left to deal with all the difficult people alone.

And when you “job-hop” too many times without learning anything important, employers will not response to you.
Furthermore, your pay will be low forever.

From what i saw, some SME will also arrowed the accounting assistants to perform other duties to save cost or cut cost. The accounting assistants will be asked to be involve in purchasing to negotiate with suppliers for lower price & purchase goods.

I remember seeing one recruitment ads on jobstreet of a company recruiting a accounting & shipping assistant to do both accounting & shipping works. Besides accounting, the person has to do those import & export docus, coordinating delivery, L/C. I wonder how much the company is going to pay the person who took up the job.

Besides being use for purchasing, shipping, they will also be used for HR, customer service, sales support. These SME are only paying one salary to the accounting assistant but expecting them to perform multiple tasks.

Due to the fast working pace, tons of paperworks, low wage, long working hours, the turnover rate for accounting assistant jobs should be quite high. Even now you can also see e2i trying to help companies recruit accounting assistants too.

I understand your sentiments and certainly agree that many firms especially SMEs lump different roles together to become one single position and expect one person to perform many jobs at the same time.

But this phenomenon is not restricted to only accounting, worker exploitation is already rampant throughout Singapore.

Ya, you can complain about long working hours, heavy workload, no job satisfaction for all day but things wouldnt change in Singapore. But these expectations are only reserved for those in their prime 20s. Especially like Jody in her 40s, you got no more bargaining chips.

Theres seriously no way Jody can get back into the IT industry, much less say a job that is willing to pay her 7k.

Especially JY, having a tough job to do beats having no job at all. Sad but true. At the end of the day, you still need to survive and feed yourself. You can complain, but theres not going to be any changes in Singapore. Like i said, Singapore is a very cruel place to live in.

Everybody should learn to make plans for themselves early. We must all foresee if people are getting unemployed at their 40s, then we must plan to ensure we dont get into the same predicament when we reach that age.

Do you feel that it’s still nice to ask someone why is she or he is still not married at their current age nowadays?

Regardless what age you are, be it 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s 60s or 70s. You have no bargaining chips unless you have something which the employer needs it so badly that without it, the whole company can’t function well or you know something that the employer don’t want you to leak out or report to the authority.

I’m have been in unemployed state multiple times since 1999 till today. Since 1997 till 2012, there have been too many economy recession situations, one after another. I have taken up various jobs to survive, mostly those so called blue collar jobs or non-PME jobs. Life is tough. Many have heard of the caste system of India but does S’pore have any? If S’pore has caste system, then for people like me, I feel that I belong to the lower section of the caste system of S’pore.

For me, I don’t want to have too many planning coz the more & the detail I plan, the more likely it will fail to achieve the targets I set. 期望越高 ,失望越大. It’s always easier to do the talking than trying to get the task done.

You seem to twist all my words around and make it seem like I am some insensitive jerk whos here to mock at other people.

Let me rebuke and clarify on the points you raised:

On the part where the female writer in question is not married, Yes I expected somebody would remark that it isnt nice to ask that.

But it is a natural question that comes to mind especially for a woman of her age who has to struggle through unemployment.

My notion is from the concern whether is she getting any support from her family or husband. There is no intention of putting her down in any way.

And come on, which ever person you meet anywhere, you are bound to be asked whether you are married one way or the other.

If you are not married then thats fine, why must one be so sensitive and mindful of what others are going to think?

If you can take offence to that, well that reflects that you are either a narrow minded person or you are simply suffering from inferiority complex.

On my point about bargaining chips, I should say I meant the bargaining power that comes along with youth. Younger people in their 20s naturally have more bargaining power when it comes to job hunting than older people. I dont think you can dispute that.

This is Singapore mind you. Regardless what fanciful degree you hold or what fantastic work experience you have doesnt matter. As long as you hit the golden age of 40 and the pay you are drawing is sufficient to hire 2 younger and cheaper workers to replace you, out you go.

In Singapore there is no need for you to put a caste system in place. Because it is already there, its just an unspoken, open secret. Those who are not successful in life are naturally outcasted by society and their peers. FACT.

People ask yourself this question: How many friends and colleagues will stick by you or lend a helping hand should you lose your job or land in a bad situation today? Chances are most will avoid you without a thought, with fear you may pester them for help. You are already outcasted. No one needs to come tell you about it man.

Lastly on the part of making plans, I meant having plans to ensure that one escapes the predicament of unemployment beyond 40 years old.

All I am advising people to do is to prepare themselves and make plans while they are young, so when they hit the golden age of 40, they dont have to worry about unemployment or money problems. Set achievable targets within their means. Be it save 10 dollars everyday, refrain from taking taxi, do not eat in restaurants or what.

Who is asking you to make any high end targets? Then when you fail, you come pointing your fingers at people for knowing only how to talk.

But the fact is dude, if you set unachievable goals and fail. The fault is yours and yours alone. Not others.

Dont blame people for your problems. Take responsibility for yourself !! Manage your own expectations right !!

1) That episode happened many years ago and Jody’s story reminded me of my past accounting experiences. Thus, I can understand why she may not want to return to it.

2) At that time, I was very depressed and felt like jumping off the office building one day. I got no one that I could trust nor confide in. Even my parents advised me to get another job first before I quit, but I counldn’t take it anyone.

They seemed to “gang up” against me even though I was diligent. My superiors behaved like Hitler. One colleague asked me whether I was bullied by them and I dared not utter a word.

I was there for a year with low pay. I got chronic headache due to the extreme stress. Even up till now, I still visit the doctor occassionally for my headache. Nevertheless, the pain has subsided a lot since then.

3) I did find a few temp jobs after that and worked hard, but was not converted to perm. I did hope that I could be converted to prevent me the hassle of looking for a job all over again. Unfortunately, my sevice was no longer needed when the pregnant employee returned from maternity leave or when the peak period was over.

4) I did look for perm jobs to no avail due to my “track record”. Many employees asked why I was “job-hopping” and I always said I was working as a temp.

It always better to be employed as a temp than be unemployed. Everyone knows that, but after too many circumstances not within my control, I wondered if my luck was so bad after all.

5) I just hope for someone to give me an opportunity to prove myself with a decent pay. I am thrifty by nature and know the need to save.

The problem is that my pay was so low that after CPF deduction and living expenses, I didn’t have much left. I always wish that I could earn more so that I could give my mum more $$ every month.

She won’t ask much from me, but very often, my siblings didn’t give her any $$ though they earned much more than me. They rather spent on facial or hair treatments. My mum understand my plight and didn’t ask me for any $$ when I was jobless, but I tried to give her more if I got bonus which was rare.

Singapore’s office culture is like that. Birds of a same feather flock together.

You find people getting into their own small social groups/circles in the office. And although you could be their colleague in the same office, but so long you do not belong within that social group, you are an outcast altogether. FACT.

And when things happen, these people belonging to the same social group will gang up together and target the outcast. Sad but true.

About your job history, track record stuff, I think you really need to be tactful about it. If you know something that an employer will be picky about and you wont be hired because of that, then why even reveal it to them in the 1st place? If you really want the job, just tell the employers what they want to hear. Do whatever it takes to get the job 1st.

In my opinion, Singapore is a totally fxxked up country from top to bottom. The whole state has gone to hell. I cant even recall the number of times I have been screwed over just because I was a guy that was born here. The whole country now is just an elaborate facade and a hypocritical sideshow.

If you really wanna be happy and lead a more carefree life. Seriously make plans to leave. I know I am.

I am glad that you are not criticising me the way you did to jj. jj and I have similar circumstances with issues like a “poor” track record and low pay. Where are you going? What did you plan to do abroad? If you open a company there, don’t forget about us.

Jody, I am assuming from your story that you resigned voluntarily owing to not being able to withstand the politics in the office.

Let me tell you something about the IT field (or any work field) for that matter that politics abound because it is a human craving to be recognised and rewarded (read Maslow’s theory) and if need be the enemy will be eliminated at whatever cost.

I am a woman myself and have been in the IT field from the time I graduated with a degree of the same to this day. That’s about 15 years in total. I have always had to work the hardest to prove myself amongst my peers and colleagues for whom males make the biggest percentage in this field. It’s equally tough if there’s another woman and bitchiness happen, because the other woman wants her recognition and reward too.

Nevertheless, no matter how tough my situation has been (and I can tell you that I have been through times where I have been put down and humiliated by my own (male) colleagues and all because I am a woman and that they see me as a threat in their territory) I never ever give in and up. I pushed through and tell myself it is another day of fire-fighting. I have been in situations where I am the only Asian woman in my team of predominantly (say 90% India) indians and caucasians and one out of 5 women in an IT department of 200 odd colleagues. The world of IT is the toughest field for a woman to be recognised on par with the male colleagues compared to the other industries.

I read your story and whilst I sympathise with parts of it I do however have to comment that the world does not owe anyone a living. You have resigned and pointed your finger at foreigners but you failed to analyse where you went wrong.

In today’s very tough economic climate, keeping a job is now considered a (BIG) challenge, in especially Singapore. Every one who still has a job today will fight tooth and nail to keep it. However, in your case I wonder why would you give up your job (and a well paid one at that) because of politics, which I find to be a very lame reason for doing so.

I really think this is a time now to do some soul-searching. Whilst you hunt for another job (which will take a while and not because foreigners are taking jobs that you want) you might want to ask yourself how you are going to handle a similar situation in your next job rather than give in and run away.

Are you really a woman? Just that I find the nick anon doesnt sound like a woman’s name.

Talk about ostracizing. I lost my job recently due to a woman. And dare I say that woman is a total b*tch and deserves to rot in hell. So the case happens the same on both sides.

JY:

Not I wanted to criticize him. But is he himself that asked for it. I was merely trying to share some facts and try to give some advice to the forum people.

Then this jj@39 started twisting my words around and pointing fingers at me. Of course I need to clarify stuff up and put him in his place. He is so reminiscent of those backstabbers at work.

He and Jody are people who need to set their expectations straight. When something is clearly out of your grasp, just let it go and pursue something else more reasonable. You can only strive for something that is acheivable. Not put some sky high success goal and blame others when you fail.

I am aiming for a developed country and there is an existing shortcut way for me to take to get employed there and in time earn my citizenship after residing and working there for some years. Drawback is that before I make my application I have to save up for the trip. So right now I need to secure a new job first then I can start putting my plans into fruition.

And when the day comes that I do get my new citizenship, I’ll throw back my Singapore Pink IC back at the PAP lap dog faces, give them the middle finger and tell them thanks for almost 3 decades of torture, kiss my a5S goodbye and gimme my CPF back. That is an instant windfall of tens of thousands of dollars mind you.

But the prerequisite that you must possess before you make any plan overseas is that you need to have a university degree first. If not, the door is already closed for you before you even start trying.

I will never set up any business in Singapore. Theres no way in hell I’ve ever allow those PAP money grubbers to have any chance of smelling my money. Much less say touch it.

I’m not like somebody who only know how to say “Its easier said than done” all the time like a damn broken record. Of course when they set unrealistic goals for themselves, they are doomed to failure before they even start !!

Such people are condemned to be losers all their lives.

But for people like me on the contrary, we do meticulous planning. You think I would be making and telling people of my plan if I wasnt confident in it ?

I have all the required qualifications, certifications and credentials in making the said application overseas. Besides, there is an abundance of the position I am applying for, so I do not need to rely on one single company, thus I have faith I will secure the post. Its just a matter of when the time is ripe thats all.

Worse come to worst, is just I do not get hired at all. I have nothing to lose but everything to gain from it ! This is called a calculated plan!

I make rational and attainable goals for myself. So when I do it, I am content and I gain confidence in myself in achieving it.

I’m not like someone who is a failure but being a sore loser, try to diss other people and drag them down to be losers like him.

Life is a cycle, sometimes u are at the top n one day u are at the bottom… u must not give up n try to bounce back. Its not u but the job situation in Spore has changed dramatically especially for those in engineering and IT.

Hi. I recently became an Aussie PR. I am thinking of moving over to start anew after repeatedly being screwed by the government and I have been jobless for many months. I would like to know if anyone know of any job offers in Australia. Dishwashing, cleaner, construction worker whatever. I have a degree and masters. I am willing to do anything. If you know of any job offers in Australia or anywhere overseas, please help me out.

When there is economy recession; investment banks collapsed; stockmarket crashed; your company is under restructing…etc How can you avoid that from happening?

Planning is like making forecasting. You make plans or forecasting usually based on experience, past records, subject experts’ opinion or may be own’s intuition. You will predict or estimate what kind of problems might occur & come up with some contingency plan. You will also calculate the costs, benefits, risks, time consuming, manpower etc to get things done.

Many of us here make plans for our futures. Some of us here attended dip/deg, WSQ courses & finance courses etc. More or less we are exposed to planning/forecasting theories & techniques. There are courses on planning or forecasting. One famous one is the PMP.

There is a rule in forecasting. That is – foreacsting is always wrong. You can plan whatever you want to plan & make all the foreacsts that you want. Well, will things turn out exactly like you planned?

It is consider good to make some plans but bear in mind that things usually will not turn out exactly like you planned for.